How does the location and timezone affect Google Sheets document

Unlike other desktop-based spreadsheets, Google Sheets is a cloud-based application that is ubiquitous. It is location and device independent. All we need is a browser and an Internet connection. With such a grand proposition of being able to serve people all over the world, comes certain challenges. Not surprisingly, Google Sheets handles them pretty well. In this article, we demonstrate how can location and timezone affect Google Sheets.

Why should location and timezone affect Google Sheets?

Because not all the geographical locations have the same language, currency, date and numeric notations etc. Therefore, users preferences will align to the geography they are present in. To understand how Google Sheets intelligently caters to its global users, consider the following snapshot.

Example

In the data formatting options available, we see the dollar ($) is the preset currency. The date format is in M/DD/YYYY format. If we navigate to File > Spreadsheet settings, we notice the location is United States. No wonder, the way we see data formats are in line with those of United States notations.

Example

If the location and language preferences were Spain and Español respectively, we will see all the data representation aligns with that of Spanish notations. Similarly, Google Sheets customized this experience across geographies.

Example

Not just that, Google Sheets even manages the built-in functions in the preferred language. In the below screenshot, the first three formulas are Spanish representations of English counterparts SUM, AVERAGE, and COUNT. We’ll also notice that the delimiter changes to semi-colon from comma, which also applies to formula delimiters as well.

Example

If we prefer, we can configure Google Sheets to handle functions only in English language. To do so, navigate to File > Spreadsheet settings, and check the box (highlighted) to true.

Example

Congratulations! We just explored how will the changes in location and timezone affect Google Sheets.